Ghosts of Gauntcliff, Chapter Seven

[ewancummins]

Screaming, Bennedict leaps from the ravine, hands stretching out to grab hold of his son.

Benn leaps, grabbing Jonas by the hand. With his other hand, Benn scrabbles for the ledge-- but his fingers close on empty air!
He plunges down into the gap, instinctively curling around his son to protect the boy from the impact.

Benn slams into the rocky floor with a bone-jarring thud. He can't move his legs. His whole body aches. The darkness and mist blind him. His glowing morningstar is lost.
Feeling about in the gloom, Benn runs his hands over a small body next to him...

[Adam]

Coughing, Bennedict ignores the taste of blood currently flooding into his mouth. His eyes refuse to focus, and a part of him realizes his spectacles have fallen off during the drop. The clinical, detached part of his mind is accutely aware of the fact that he should be panicking right now, but years of Lamordian emotional detachment keep him from losing control, instead feeling out until he feels Jonas. If there are gods out there he thinks let this work. Help me now.

When he feels the child's body, the fragmented pieces of his consciousness reflexively coalesce, and he channels healing energy into his small frame.

"Jonas?" he rasps, noticing with detachment that his ribs appear to be broken. "Are you alright?"

[ewancummins]

Nothing.

The boy lies still as any stone or block of wood.
Benn feels no pulse, feels no breath.













Then Jonas twitches.

He speaks in a weak voice--''Papa? I'm scared."

[ewancummins]

Eustace and the others, on the trail-


Melmoth points out some warm lights ahead, shining from a hilltop that rises over the oak and brush thickets of the central island.


''The chateau. Not far now."

[ewancummins]

The ballroom


Everline regains her senses. Three men lie on top of her, pinning her to the floor.

Charlotte moves among the injured and panic stricken people, helping them with bandages and soothing words.

Everline notices a fresh set of claw or nail marks on the woman's face, as if some lunatic had tried to claw out her eyes.

[Adam]

Benn sighs, slumping back against the rocks with a happy laugh.

"Don't worry son," he weazes out, "as soon as daddy starts coughing blood, I'll make everything better."

He laughs and musses up his sons hair, before chanting out a healing spell for himself.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Off," Everline whispers. Then, in a louder voice: "Please get. Off me. Sorry. I am. Back. So sorry. Charlotte...?"

[ewancummins]

BOTTOM OF THE RAVINE

Benn sighs, slumping back against the rocks with a happy laugh.

"Don't worry son," he weazes out, "as soon as daddy starts coughing blood, I'll make everything better."

He laughs and musses up his sons hair, before chanting out a healing spell for himself.

''Papa, what's that?"

Benn hears something besides his son's voice, something snuffling about in the mist close to him.

[ewancummins]

THE BALLROOM

"Off," Everline whispers. Then, in a louder voice: "Please get. Off me. Sorry. I am. Back. So sorry. Charlotte...?"

Charlotte pauses to regard Everline with a wary look.

''Are you absolutely sure you are well? You aren't going to go crazy again?"

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Make... a great light," Everline whispers. Her eyes close, and tears start to leak out. "Enough light... to drive out all shadows. It hid in... the shadows. Drove me out of my... mind. These other people... probably." Everline does not resist the men keeping her down, but they can feel the tension running through her, the trembling of a creature caged and terrified. "Drive out the shadows. Stop people... going... mad. I am so sorry."

[ewancummins]

"Make... a great light," Everline whispers. Her eyes close, and tears start to leak out. "Enough light... to drive out all shadows. It hid in... the shadows. Drove me out of my... mind. These other people... probably." Everline does not resist the men keeping her down, but they can feel the tension running through her, the trembling of a creature caged and terrified. "Drive out the shadows. Stop people... going... mad. I am so sorry."

Something cool slides along Everline's back, feeling through her clothes to caress her skin

''Don't be sorry. '' Dodds whispers in her ear, ''This was so much fun. I love playtime with you, Everline. We'll do it again very soon, my sweet little princess"
The men on top of Everline leap up, cursing, as a black shadow whips out from beneath Everline and slithers across the floor like a viper.
By the time Everline has gotten up and is ready to act, Dodds has vanished.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Pedophile," Everline curses as she staggers to her feet. "Coward! Vermin! Filth! Kill you kill you kill you! You deserve nothing but death! I deserve to kill you!"

She rounds on the other people. "Not insane," she rasps, fists clenched at her sides. "Just very... very... angry. So angry. Light the light! Let it blaze! Burn away the darkness, for your souls' sake!"

[Adam]

Grimacing in pain Benn rolls up to a knee, grabbing Jonas and pulling towards his body. "Get behind me, son," he mutters, his tone serious.

"Come no closer!" he shouts at the sound. "I am armed, and I am out of patience."

He chants another healing prayer and scans the dark for movement, and perhaps any sign of his two weapons.

[ewancummins]

Grimacing in pain Benn rolls up to a knee, grabbing Jonas and pulling towards his body. "Get behind me, son," he mutters, his tone serious.

"Come no closer!" he shouts at the sound. "I am armed, and I am out of patience."

He chants another healing prayer and scans the dark for movement, and perhaps any sign of his two weapons.

Something in front of Benn barks, just like a dog would bark.

[Adam]

Well, I'm going to need a light, anyways Benn thinks as he mutters another invocation, this one in the guttural language of the druids. He snaps his fingers and a ball of flame appears directly in front of him, casting a flickering light throughout the ravine.